Golden State Warriors: Reflecting on Kevin Durant’s media problem

Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant spoke to the media for the first time in 10 days on Wednesday, and it was a feisty three minutes. Don’t ask Kevin about his future in the NBA.

As a big-name player on the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant has written another chapter in his book of drama. This time around, the drama was for a good reason that many people won’t understand.

While it has nothing to do how he is playing on the court, it has to do with what has been happening off the court with the media. After Wednesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs, Kevin Durant spoke to the media for the first time in 10 days and he did not hold back.

After the first question was asked, Durant went off on the reporters after one of them asked why he has not spoken with the media. You can watch the full video below:

He listed many different reasons on why the outburst happened, but the major one was that the media has recently been tying Durant of the Warriors to a  few different moves that other NBA teams have made.

The trade that really got him going was the trade that the New York Knicks made when they shipped away young star Kristaps Porzingis. When the deal was made, rumors began to swirl that somebody in Durant’s camp had requested that the Knicks trade Porzingis, as KD would rather not have him on the team.

Of course, Durant was not happy with the rumors and decided to avoid the media as he knew that most questions would be about the rumors as well as his pending free agency this summer. That is how the whole outburst and 10-day absence from the media started.

While many fans will say that Durant acted poorly and is not setting the right image, I have to disagree.

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The main focus of the player should be the game that they are playing that night. They chose to play basketball for the game — not to sit there and entertain theories about the future. If Durant wanted to talk about theories, he would come out and say it.

Durant this season is averaging 27.4 points per game and in his last ten, is averaging 34 minutes a game. He is ranked sixth in all of the NBA in points per game and is ninth in minutes per game.  He has arguably been the best player on the Warriors in 2018-19. That hasn’t been the focus though. Instead, the media is focusing on some theories that have nothing to do with the current season.

The main thing that the media should do is help the fans understand the game that they just watched or about what is happening in practice that week or how the player is dealing with an injury that may have occurred. During the season and playoffs, questions that are not about the game, an injury, or the other team that they are playing shouldn’t be allowed.

The NBA needs to take a hold of the media and put some restrictions on this before the players stop answering questions at all. Me, personally as a fan, couldn’t care less about what is going to happen during the next season when we are in the beginning of February, in the middle of this season. I am more worried about how they are going to do in the second half of the season and how healthy the players are.

Once the summer comes around, then we can start worrying about free agency. Until then, enjoy the regular season and see how Durant and the Warriors are going to try to win their third-straight championship.